Scandal Follows Another Member of "Mayors Against Illegal Guys"

Federal fraud charges against another member of anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) is another example of why gun owners don’t trust the anti-gun group, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

North Miami, Florida Mayor Lucie Tondreau is the latest in a growing list of MAIG members who have wound up facing criminal charges. She was indicted earlier this week on fraud charges, and will be arraigned May 30.

“Mayors don’t trust gun owners, and gun owners don’t trust the mayors,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Michael Bloomberg obviously doesn’t trust them, either, because he keeps trying to conceal them under other names, like ‘Everytown for Gun Safety.’ The irony here is that all of the MAIG members who have been charged with crimes cannot possess firearms and those who have been convicted can no longer even possess firearms. No wonder these people want to disarm the rest of us.

“Of course,” he added, “Mayor Tondreau must be considered innocent until proven guilty, but we should keep in perspective that, under existing law, that applies to everyone but gun owners. Anybody under indictment for a crime, even a non-violent one, is not allowed to possess a firearm even if they haven’t been convicted of anything. Any gun owner who is ultimately acquitted has a hell of a time getting his or her guns back, and that’s a legal entanglement supported by MAIG members who don’t want any average citizen to own a gun.

“This makes between 25 and 30 MAIG members who have run afoul of the law,” Gottlieb estimated. “The majority of these people have been convicted, and that includes former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who presided over the Hurricane Katrina gun grab that illegally and unconstitutionally deprived New Orleans residents of more than 1,100 of their personally-owned firearms.

“If you did some quick math,” he concluded, “you would find a far higher percentage of MAIG members committing crimes than American gun owners. It’s why we started Gun Owners Against Illegal Mayors, and why gun owners will fight this organization and its anti-gun agenda no matter how many millions of dollars Michael Bloomberg pours into it.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.